The main goal of my thesis work is to create a model using presence/absence data to determine Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum) occupancy and detection probability in the Mojave desert in southern Utah. We conducted 500 time-constrained 1-km transect surveys across 6 sites in St. George, UT to collect data for this analysis. Along a transect, surveyors collected environmental and landscape data every 0.25 km (including start and end points).
We created a “Rockiness Index” on a scale from 1 - 7 to quantify the variablity in substrate texture along a transect: